Honestly that's what I hate about card-based games. It's not the tedium of constructing the right deck with all the rules and balances taken into consideration, it's the randomness of whether or not you even have a chance to compete based on what you draw regardless of how good your deck is in theory. Thus my not getting involved with Hearthstone in the first place.

Just out of pure curiosity, Sin, what are some of the decks you do use? I know friends who've gone through similar problems, and after analyzing their deck, noticed a lot of disconnections that overall make the deck weak without luck. The game is heavily based on being able to draw cards and effectively control the board, which may differ from other card-based games. I know for a fact YuGiOh had a very different aspect to how a deck could be built, so transitioning from one game to the other will have different mindsets required.

Just out of pure curiosity, Sin, what are some of the decks you do use? I know friends who've gone through similar problems, and after analyzing their deck, noticed a lot of disconnections that overall make the deck weak without luck. The game is heavily based on being able to draw cards and effectively control the board, which may differ from other card-based games. I know for a fact YuGiOh had a very different aspect to how a deck could be built, so transitioning from one game to the other will have different mindsets required.

Right now I've been using the hunter deck, with mostly beasts being the main draw of my deck. Only problem is that I don't have the secrets and I don't have a lot of the needed card to make it a good beast deck. I save multishot and kill command for big monsters or if I can, to kill off the other player. If I get my low cost cards I can get on a role, but when you play against mostly priest and mages who have low cost spells that wipe your board for 2 to 3 turns, they end up wrecking your face. I've tried having lower cost decks, doesn't work since most of your cards are minions, tried it with a mage deck banking on the spells I had and taunt creatures, tried with a hunter to get massive amounts of beasts out with tundra rhino. Effectively I just think that I'm having extremely bad luck with this game and glad I never spent a cent.

Currently playing it and I'm loving it. I've only had it for less than a day but so far it's fun and challenging.

Edit: From what I have gathered (after going against all normal AI and unlocking them) a Paladin deck can be absolutely deadly if played correctly. Takes me back all the way to when I used to play MTG and how deck construction was critical.

I haven't gone against any real apponents yet but I have been playing AI to get a better understanding of the game and I have to say I absolutely love Paladin decks so far.

Also on a side note, if anyone watched Blizzcon and the Hearthstone Invitational then you know Artosis had a stupidly powerful Paladin deck that he took out a lot of decks with.

In ranked I am currently switching between warrior and warlock. I think my win % is about 40%. As I climb the ranks I am facing some opponents who have quite a few rares in their decks but bad drawing (lack of drawing is still my bane).

*as a warlock, yes I tap, but to much and you just seal your own fate.

My favourites so far are the mage and warrior decks. I'm not huge into the game as is but when I do play its usually one of the two. I started playing a druid to do some dailies and it seems fun. As everyone else has said I hate priest decks but I've found if you apply as much pressure as you reasonably can it gets better, as they need to start deciding what to heal. I've found that going second is a boon at times, since you can get out a card one turn earlier than they might expect. And playing normals I've seen players rush to take down my Gelbin Mekkatorque only to have me spring a Reckless Rocketeer one turn and then a venture co mercenary the next.

I don't play myself, but I've been watching a friend play, and it's beautiful! I can definitely see what you mean by the Priest deck being overpowered, though honestly, with the right combination of cards, I think the Mage deck would have no problem wiping the board against a Priest.

I'm tempted to give the game a try. Does it cost anything to play? My friend plays mostly Arena mode, but are there other options/play modes?

The game itself will be free to play, but its currently in closed beta. Arena mode can also be played for 'free', but it costs 150 gold to play. You get 10 gold every 3 wins, and by doing the daily quests (IE win 2 games as x or y class, deal 100 damage to heroes, kill 40 minions... etc)

From what I have learned. Once a day you get a quest. Win 2 games with X class for 40 coins. When you win 100 games you get 300 coins Other quest, like completing all the basic sets for coins100 damage40 minions killed etc.

You could pay 1.99 to enter the arena, but if you are patient you can just arena for free. The better you do in Arena the more coins you can earn back. If you manage to win 9 games, it returns your entry fee and gives you a handful of packs.

I've only played the arena once. You get an 'admit one' ticket of sorts, letting you play the arena once for free. After that you pay. Currently if you pay you will receive a golden Gelbin Mekkatorque, who is only available from buying right now and won't be available in golden after the beta ends. However, if Trump (the first and currently only professional Hearthstone player) can get signed by Razer without putting a cent into the game, it goes to show that you dont NEED to pay.

Im really pleased that they made essentially everything available, even if it takes a boat load of grind. Even the gold cards are available for those with the dust (He who controls the dust, controls the Inn) although it takes so much to make the gold variants. I guess the Arena is great for that since you can get a LOT of good stuff for your 150 gold or $2. My freebie got me a pack, a bit of gold and around 60 dust. And that was for 0 wins.

I just got my Beta key about a week ago - so far I've been doing best with the Warlock and the Shaman (Former WoW Shadow Priest so no surprises to me). I had been watching a lot of Youtube coverage so I think that has helped with my tactics.

Reviving this, as I'm really into it. I play Americas (total levels 123, total arena wins 27, average level of all my decks 14) and Europe (total levels 296, total arena wins 161, average level of all my decks 32) with Europe being my more developed account. If anyone would like to add me to their friends list, poke me in PM and we can have a bout!